MTV Celebrity Deathmatch Companion - Softcover

Fogel, Eric

9780789305039: MTV Celebrity Deathmatch Companion

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0789305038 ISBN 13: 9780789305039

Publisher: Universe, 2000

Throughout the years, Celebrity Deathmatch has brought you the finest in animate clay celebrity brutality with epic slugfests like Schwarzenegger vs. Stalone, Tyson vs. Holyfield, and Hanson vs. The Spice Girls. We've also brought you historic battles like Abe Lincoln vs. George Washington, Gandhi vs. Genghis Khan, and Big Foot vs the Loch Ness Monster. And who could forget the dazzling star power in fights like Keanu Reeves vs. Brad Pitt, Al Pacino vs. Robert De Niro,a nd Rich Schroder vs. Gary Coleman. Alright, maybe you could forget Schroder vs. Coleman, but now you never have to. With the Deathmatch Companion you can relive all your favorite clay celebrity clashes until you're old and gray and drooling in a dixie cup.

The Deathmatch Companion features pictures, dialogue, and behind-the-scenes details on every show from the very first short, Charles Manson vs. Marilyn Manson, through the first two seasons of the series. That's alot of bloodshed. The Deathmatch Companion also has segments written by the creator, Eric Fogel, and the destroyer, Stone Cold Steve Austin, as well as pages full of real celebrity reactions, fan mail, fighter stats., and heaps of other highlights that you can only find here, Deathmatch Companion. Impress your friends. Scare your enemies. Buy this book.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

MTV Celebrity Death Match Introduction:

"They're not gonna do a Butt-Bowl this year. Instead they wanna do a Death-Bowl."

Those were the words spoken to me by the President of MTV Animation, Abby Terkuhle in December 1998. And that strange sentence was the beginning of it all. For years, MTV had scored big ratings with "Butt-Bowl," a Beavis and Butthead alternative to the cheesy Superbowl halftime show. But the days of Beavis and Butthead were winding down, and the network was looking for a change. So they asked me for an idea. I decided that this year, things were going to be different. This year, people were going to die.

The concept was simple, elegant, and downright violent. Clay celebrities would square off in a no-holds-barred fight to the death. Throw in a couple of goofy announcers, referee Mills Lane, and an arena full of bloodthirsty fans, and you've got yourself Celebrity Deathmatch: Death-Bowl '98. Sounds simple, huh? Yeah, right.

The catch was that we had just under a month to write the script, do a storyboard, record the voices, model the characters, build the sets, and animate 15 minutes of stop-motion animation using untested technology. Just to make it completely impossible, the network asked me if the main event could be a deathmatch between the current cheesy pop bands Hanson and The Spice Girls. I did the math. A total of eight characters in the ring, plus Mills Lane. There were more puppets in the show than people on the crew! Then I found out that MTV had pre-sold the airtime to its sponsors with a guarantee of at least a three rating. If we failed to deliver the goods, it would cost the company millions, and I'd be out of a job. I soon realized that I might be among the dead before this was all over. But I said, "Fine. We can do this."

Needless to say, we worked our friggin' asses off and no one got to celebrate a single holiday that season. But on January 31, Death-Bowl '98 aired during halftime of the Superbowl. People tuned in to watch Pamela Anderson Lee kick RuPaul's ass, Howard Stern defeat Kathie Lee Gifford with a blast from his Sphincter Cannon, and Marilyn Manson retain his title as Most Evil Man in America, by taking out both Hanson and the Spice Girls in one fell swoop. The show received a whopping 4.6, which was the highest rated MTV special ever! An animated series was born.

Today, we have a huge staff of wonderfully talented artists who bring a new Celebrity Deathmatch to life every week. Unfortunately, the production schedule never seems to get any easier, and we still work our friggin' asses off! Finally, with this book, there's an opportunity to display some of that hard work. There are cool images grabbed right from the show, and funny tidbits of information to go along with them, making this the perfect companion to your favorite animated slugfest. So sit back and soak up all the clay carnage your little hearts can take. You sick little bastards.

Eric Fogel
Creator, Director, Co-Executive P

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.